The Ambivalent Adventures of Space Dad! (Now with more Space)
by iwouldgetaniguana
Summary: Shiro's not sure he knows how to be a Dad. Or, against expectations, how to be in space. A collection of drabbles about Space Dad and his Space Family. [season 5 spoilers]
1. Red Sky in the Morning

A/N: As a disclaimer, I don't know when or how often I will be updating this, but don't worry: the chapters are each fine stand-alone.

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"Ah!" Matt curses as his bag falls over, spilling its contents onto the ship's floor. He bends down, reaches first for a photo of him and a girl.

"Your girlfriend?" Shiro asks, crouching to help.

Matt grins. "My sister, Katie." He holds the photo out so Shiro can get a better look. "She wanted to come on this mission so bad, but she's still too young for the Garrison. Super smart, though. At least twice as smart as me."

Shiro raises his eyebrows. "That'd be pretty smart."

"I'm serious!" Matt throws his hands out. "She made me this for my birthday," he draws out his tablet. "She's _thirteen_."

Shiro whistles, taking the tablet. "This thing?" He knows – Matt uses it all the time – that it has an innovative user-interface that's much better for organizing scientific data than what the Garrison gave them.

"Right?" Matt's eyes are shining, and Shiro remembers Commander Holt saying, when they'd been introduced: _I'm pretty lucky._ Both _my children want to reach for the stars._

Shiro looks back at the photo, Katie beaming next to her brother. "You'll have to introduce me sometime."

Matt snorts. "She has a way of introducing _herself_."

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A/N: That time Shiro didn't know he was adopting a space child.


	2. Bonus: Hoist the White Sail

A/N: So, a "Bonus" chapter in this fic just means it's a drabble about Shiro from someone else's point of view, instead of a drabble from Shiro's point of view.

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" _I'm no good at this_!" Keith raged, storming down a Garrison corridor, footsteps clapping against the walls. "I'm here to fly, not – not –"

"If you're going into space," Shiro followed him, "you have to learn to work with others."

"Well, others are stupid!"

He heard Shiro exhale. "Keith. Be patient – people can't always keep up with you."

Keith threw his hands up. " _You_ can!"

Shiro laughed. Keith stared as he punched Keith's shoulder, eyes crinkling. "Maybe that's how I know."

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Keith leans against the cool metal wall of the Castle, staring at Shiro's closed door.

Shiro's in bed a lot these days.

Maybe Keith's instinct is right. Maybe – maybe there _is_ something off, here. The way Shiro talks, the way Shiro smiles...

Or maybe –

Shiro's door swishes open. Shiro steps out, hand to his brow.

Keith straightens. "You alright?"

Shiro's mouth curls up at the corners. "Yeah. Just a bit of a headache. It's nothing." He walks past Keith up the hallway. "You coming?"

Maybe Shiro hit his head while he was out there, lost. Maybe it's hurting more than he lets on.

Maybe being captured – _again_ –

Keith is no good at this.

"Right behind you," he answers.


	3. Beacon

If I just concentrate, he thinks, If I just concentrate on the Black Lion and open my mind outward like Coran taught us, I'll be able to make a connection.

He thinks this less and less (the eclipse he fought Zarkon beneath is as unending as the expanses of universe above and below him, and their darkness pulls at his edges) but he thinks it decidedly today – this moment, whatever it is – sitting on the impossible ground and reaching out for that connection, for Voltron.

He searches for Red's energy – his connection with Keith is strongest (hopefully he hasn't done anything rash (what if he's in trouble (what _happened_ to everyone (...are they looking for me?)))) – so he reaches out, remembers showing Keith the Heracles Space Shuttle, remembers the wind that day, the frown on Keith's face as he said, "congratulations."

He reaches with these things most days but today something meets him halfway.

A cry –

Light envelops him, the sensation of four other presences. They pull away too quickly.

No –

He turns to the Red Paladin, but it's –

 _Lance._

Still here, almost within reach.

"Lance, listen to me –"

" _What_?"

A flash, a rip, and Shiro's alone.

A/N: happy one-week anniversary, season 5 :)


End file.
